


x marks the spot

by heartbreakmichael



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-03-04 08:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3048149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbreakmichael/pseuds/heartbreakmichael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael stares at the unfinished photo on the milky skin of his wrist, wishing for a second chance at love. </p><p>Or as your life progresses, a map of where you'll meet your soulmate is drawn, and Michael's stopped on his fourteenth birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	x marks the spot

Today, Michael imagines whoever his soulmate was as a painter. 

They meet at an art gallery in Manhattan (Manhattan is the only clue about this whole thing Michael's been given. His map stopped before he could get further than that). Michael is staring at an abstract painting. It's new at the gallery, but he wouldn't know that because it's not like he's some huge art fan. In fact, he's only at the gallery because his art professor said she'd give anyone who went extra credit. (This is a bit of reality seeping in because his professor  _did_ offer extra credit for this, yet Michael felt too sick to leave the couch, let alone the house. And not physically sick- more like, looking-at-my-timer-and-hating-my-life-and-myself sick). 

He stares at the painting for a good bit, turning his head different ways to try and see something. He's come to the conclusion that whoever made this was high when they did it. 

A boy walks over and stands next to him. This time, the guy has blonde hair and deep brown eyes. "Shitty painting, right?"

Michael looks at him with wide eyes. "W-what? No. It's just... different." The boy raises his eyebrows. "Okay, it's weird as fuck." 

This makes the boy smile. He holds out his hand and introduces himself. This time his name is Carter (Ca were the only letters that had appeared before Michael's map stopped). 

"Michael," he says, shaking the boy's hand. Immediately the (fully-drawn) map on Michael's wrist disappears and a big, red X appears in its place.

"Nice to meet you," the boy smiles. "I'll see you around?" 

Michael nods and smiles, shocked. He looks back at the painting to see it's creator. 

It belongs to a Carter. 

-

When it happened, Michael was confused. No one had ever told him about the possibility of this happening. No one had ever prepared him.

He'd tripped on the way to his parents room on the morning of what was supposed to be  _his_ day, his fourteenth birthday, a great day. He'd shown them his wrist, the half-drawn map with a black line that looked like scar tissue marking the end of it, the part that would never be completed.

Because Michael's soulmate was dead. 

In the second it took for their faces to fall, he'd started crying. He'd jumped into his parent's bed and cried like a baby, feeling four years old as his mother rubbed his hand soothingly. It wasn't fair - not one bit. It wasn't fair that the person who was supposed to love him was gone. He felt like a part of him was missing, and in a way it was. His other half had been torn from his side before it'd even been placed there.

It's been six years since that happened. He avoids Manhattan at all costs, spending all his time in his decrepit Brooklyn apartment or at his university. - the Brooklyn Academy of Music (which is the only good thing in the entire burough).

He hates Brooklyn. Like, every time he leaves his house, there's a chance he might get mugged or something. And when it rains, his apartment becomes a slip n slide. It sucks. But he can't move, can't live somewhere where something slipped between his fingers. 

So he never goes there. He turns down good jobs, even better opportunities, all for the sake of whoever CA is. 

-

On the day it happens, he imagines whoever his soulmate was as a photographer.

They meet on the streets of NYC. Michael's listening to music and hurrying along the sidewalk, dodging businesspeople rushing back to work after their lunch breaks. 

A boy stops him, tapping him on the shoulder lightly. Michael spins around to face the boy. 

"Uh, can I get a photo of you?" he asks. 

Michael furrows his eyebrows, confused. "Sure?"

The boy laughs. It's a loud, harsh noise, the kind that completely lacks any connotation, but Michael thinks it's nice. He thinks maybe he'd like to hear this laugh on a loop forever. Maybe.

"I just realized how creepy that sounds. I take photos for this magazine called The 5th. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's basically a showcase of culture and variation on the streets of NYC." The boy smiles widely. "So, can I get your picture?" 

Michael smirks. "How about a trade. I'll give you my photo in exchange for your number, sound good?"

"Sounds great." 

The boy snaps Michael's picture after he's written his name (Cameron) and his number on Michael's wrist, after the map has X'd out, after Michael's smiling and giggling like an idiot.

-

He's snapped out of his head when his mom calls.

He's in his history class, and his mom knows that, would never interrupt unless it was important, so he immediately leaves the classroom and answers his phone, slipping our unnoticed due to the size of the class.

"Hello?" he asks once in the hallway. He leans against the wall, anxiety pushing against his lungs.

"Michael? You've got to come to Manhattan. Right now." His mom's voice is strained. 

"What, why?" Michael's feeling sick right now.

"Because there is a boy at our door, claiming he's your soulmate."

-

Michael gets to Manhattan and to his old home in twenty minutes flat. He runs through the subway station once he's off the train, catching a cab and trying to ignore the fact that the driver isn't very friendly and drives like a maniac. 

Michael expected whoever the boy is to be sitting on the porch, but he's not. Michael immediately feels stupid after thinking that because his parents have been waiting for the day that Michael's map being incomplete was proven to be an accident. 

Michael knocks on the door, feeling a bit silly for doing so. But this isn't his home anymore. 

His mom opens the door, looking a little tired and a lot confused. Michael side-steps her, walking briskly into the living room. 

A boy is sitting on the couch. He has dark hair and warm eyes and numerous tattoos lining his arms. He gives Michael a small wave, gesturing for him to sit down like it's this stranger's house, and in a way it kind of feels like that. Because the boy fills the room and draws everyone's eyes straight to his smile with the way his eyes crinkle up. 

Michael sits next to him, a safe distance away. He clears his throat, "Um. Can you explain?"

"Yeah, 'course. First things first , though, I'm Calum." Michael waves to him, ignoring his outstretched hand because Michael is scared and a bit skeptical and doesn't want to see if this is true until he has been given all the answers to all the questions that he's been spending his entire life asking. 

"Michael," he says weakly, staring at Calum's wrist. There's a small map on the smooth skin - a complete one. The address shown on it is this house and underneath it is Michael's name. "But... you knew that." He coughs awkwardly. 

"I'm so happy to have found you. The doctors told me that your map had probably stopped, and I thought I'd never meet you 'cause they said there was a chance my map would never finish too, but it did and here i am." Michael just stares at him. "Oh, yeah. Explanation. So long story short, I sort of - well, technically- I died six years ago. Like, my heart stopped for a few minutes, they were able to save me obviously, but it sent out signals or whatever that stopped your map."

Michael's still confused. It seems so far-fetched and too good to be true, but, still, he reaches his hand out and lightly touches the other boy and suddenly the black line on his map has disappeared and it's being completed and then the thick x appears at the same time one is drawn onto Calum's own map. 

-

The last time he imagines his soulmate the boy is a 20 year old Broadway actor named Calum Hood. 

They meet at his parents' house and spend all night talking. 

Calum is gentle and understanding, tells Michael it's okay if he's too shocked to be ready. Michael decides to give it a try.

And when he's snapped out of his thoughts by a pair of strong arms, Michael has never been more glad that he went back to Manhattan. 

And he's never been more glad that he doesn't have to make up soulmates anymore because he's got the most startling and the most extraordinary person ever lying here with him.

Michael stares down at the map on his wrist, wonders how it could be the subject of his hatred for six years when it brought him the best thing in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> ok honestly this is one of my fav things that I've written so I hope you guys like it as much as I do omg


End file.
